13 MARCH 1886, Page 28

Essays in Translation. (W. Rice.)—These are the "prize translations" which

have appeared during the last three years in the Journal of Education, together with some miscellaneous contributions to the same publication, viz., "Lists of Greatest Men of Letters," &c. The competition for these prizes is keen, and persons of no little distinction in education and literature condescend to take part in it. The French and German pieces number thirty-one between them, out of a total of thirty-four, leaving a very scurvy remnant of three for classics. This should not be so, considering the predominance which, rightly or wrongly, the classics have in education. Bat other considera- tions doubtless have to be taken into account. The ladies especially have to be considered. They win, by the way, eleven prizes out of thirty-four. A young scholar cannot do better than study these translations with the notes which the editor has appended.